Harassment alleged at former workplace

Dec. 5, 2012

Albert Monillas

Written by

Jim Walsh

Gannett New Jersey

March 2009: Mary Jane Gretzula, former special education director at Camden County Technical School, asked Monillas if he wanted a piece of cake. He immediately responded, “Does the pope have a wee wee?” 2008-09: Following a state investigation into an allegation that Monillas “inappropriately ‘rubbed’ the front part of his groin against the ‘back’ of a male student, Monillas told Gretzula, ‘I’m so small no one would feel me.’” July 2010: Monillas sent Gretzula a joke about a boy at confession that said: “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl.” The priest asks, “Is that you, little Joey Pagano?” “Yes, Father, it is.” “And who was the girl you were with?” “I can’t tell you, Father, I don’t want to ruin her reputation.” “Well Joey, I’m sure to find out her name sooner or later so may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?” “I cannot say.” “Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?” “I’ll never tell.” “Was it Nina Capelli?” “I’m sorry, but I cannot name her.” “Was it Cathy Piriano?” “My lips are sealed.” “Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?” “Please, Father, I cannot tell you.” The priest sighs in frustration. “You’re very tight lipped, and I admire that. But you’ve sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself.” Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers, “What’d you get?” “Five good leads ...” January 2012: A cosmetology teacher, after receiving tenure, reported an earlier incident in which Monillas was evaluating her lesson three years earlier and called her “numb nuts” in front of students. The teacher alleged it took a week for her students to stop calling her “numb nuts” after the embarrassing incident. Unspecified dates: On multiple occasions, Monillas told Gretzula and other colleagues his son regularly was late for dinner “because he was masturbating in his room.”

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CAMDEN — Two female administrators claim they faced sexual harassment at the Camden County Technical School district, including an alleged remark by then-Superintendent Albert Monillas about the effect of chemotherapy on pubic hair.

Monillas is now the head of school at Sacred Heart High School in Vineland, a job he began in July.

Teri Stallone, principal of the district’s Gloucester Township campus, and Mary Jane Gretzula, a former director of special education, contend Monillas created a hostile environment for women through a series of off-color comments and emails. They included references to Monillas’ and the pope’s genitalia, according to the lawsuits.

In separate lawsuits, Stallone and Gretzula also claim they were retaliated against for bringing complaints against Monillas through the district’s affirmative action officer.

Monillas said Wednesday that he was unaware of the suits.

The suits, filed this week in federal court in Camden, also name the district’s school board. Attorneys for the women and school district declined to comment.

Gretzula contends top-level harassment at the school caused her to resign in October 2011. Among other allegations, she alleges Monillas told her the penalty for missing a meeting would be “castration” for men and that female staffers would be “ovariectomized.”

The lawsuit also describes an incident that allegedly occurred in December 2010, a few months after Gretzula had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It says she told a story at a gathering of employees “in an attempt to bring levity to the fact that she was losing her hair.” The complaint alleges Monillas “turned to Gretzula and whispered, ‘Is your pubic hair going to fall out?’”

The lawsuit contends Monillas also offered to share the comment with others and repeated it to one co-worker.

Stallone, in her suit, cites an episode in February 2011, when she, Monillas and Patricia Fitzgerald, principal of the district’s Pennsauken school, were preparing to attend a conference.

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She contends Monillas asked the women in an email, “Do the three of us want to share a room?” and the superintendent allegedly remarked later to Fitzgerald that he sleeps in the nude.

Stallone, a district employee since 1982, was “disturbed and appalled” by the exchange and did not attend the conference, the lawsuit says.

Both women filed complaints against Monillas with the district’s affirmative action officer. According to the lawsuits, the women never received copies of any reports from the district’s Board of Education.

The vo-tech district operates high schools in Gloucester Township and Pennsauken.

Stallone’s lawsuit is her second legal challenge against the district.

Stallone, who also oversaw its adult education program, went to court after the school board eliminated that program for budgetary reasons in March 2011.

The board at that time cut her pay by $10,000, to $135,764, to reflect her reduced duties. Stallone argued the pay cut violated her tenure rights, a view rejected by an administrative law judge and Education Commissioner Chris Cerf.

In the new lawsuit, Stallone notes she learned of the pay cut shortly after bringing a harassment complaint against Monillas.

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